5:00AM New York, 7:00PM Tokyo- Calmer credit markets, after the ratings affirmation on Ambac and MBIA, two rating agencies, kept stocks in a tight trading range.

Stocks in Japan erased a 0.5% advance led by property stocks and bond insurers by mid-day to close marginally lower after a broker downgraded KDDI stock.

Market Sentiment

In Tokyo trading Nikkei 225 dropped 0.65% or 89.95 to 13,824.72, and the broader Topix Index fell 0.6% or 8.07 to 1,347.47.

In the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange 10 billion shares worth 1.1 trillion yen were traded and in the second section 519 shares valued at 4.6 billion yen changed hands.

Of the Nikkei 225 shares 68 gained, 153 declined, and 4 were unchanged. IHI Corp led advancers in the Nikkei 225 index shares with a rise of 6.39% followed by Advantest Corp. gaining 4.80%.

Ambac and MBIA keep ratings

S&P yesterday affirmed its financial strength ratings on troubled bond insurers MBIA and Ambac, helping ease worries that a cut in ratings will trigger more writedowns in financial sector.

S&P affirmed the ""AAA"" rating on MBIA Inc and removed it from its CreditWatch list, which is a step further from a downgrade. MBIA currently insures $670 billion in bonds.

Although Ambac Financial Group Inc., which insurers $555 billion in debt, was affirmed at ""AAA,"" the bond insurer was kept on CreditWatch.

Office space to decline 45.3%

The Nikkei news online reported today that Mori Building Co observed in a market trend survey released yesterday that newly available office space in central Tokyo is likely to drop for the second straight year by 45.3% year-on-year to 650,000 square meters in 2008.

Carmakers increase production on emerging market demand

Japanese carmakers Toyota, Honda and Nissan separately reported that they increased production in January to meet rising demand in markets such as China, India and Russia.

Nissan raised its production 14% to 316,172 vehicles while Honda’s output gained 7.7% to 340,762 units.

Gainers & Losers

IHI Corp led advancers in the Nikkei 225 index shares with a rise of 6.39% followed by gains in Advantest Corp of 4.80%, in Mitsumi Electric Co of 4.14%, in Olympus Corp of 4.14%, and Daiwa Securities Group of 4.13%.

Property stocks also gained on speculation that the easing conditions on the global credit markets will help developers finance their projects. Mitsui Fudosan increased 2.8%.

Mitsubishi Estate Co. also advanced 4.07% after Daiwa Institute of Research raised its rating from “1” to “3” on the company’s mid-term plan.

KDDI Corp. led decliners in the Nikkei 225 index shares with a fall of 5.53% followed by losses in Secom Limited of 5.02%, in Tokyo Dome Corp of 4.74%, in Shinsei Bank Limited of 4.70%, and Inpex Holdings of 4.07%.